Welcome back to the home of the oxymoron. Evil genius. He asked the newspaper to print his obituary early so he'd enjoy it. That's like hiding at your own funeral. Yeah, a big, great gig. I'm Russell Kane. Join me to weigh in on whether the biggest players in history are more evil or genius. Becoming that rich, I'd say that is some level of genius. It also helps that it's a long time ago, right?

It's like the podcast version of telling your kids the ice cream van plays music when it's out of ice cream.

Listen to Evil Genius on BBC Sounds.

Hello, I'm Eleanor Rosamond Barraclough.

Thanks for downloading this edition of the Arts and Ideas podcast,

which was recorded in front of an audience before one of the concerts in this year's BBC proms.

Today we're climbing every mountain and fording every stream. Our quarry, though as elusive as the Yeti, is the appeal of high mountains

and how these often jagged and snow-topped wild landscapes have inspired creativity.

My companions in this quest are Dan Richards, author of Climbing Days, a family memoir that charts an enduring fascination with mountains that spans the generations,

and Abbey Garrington from Durham University, who's writing a literary history of mountaineering.

Now, mountains clearly loom large for both of you, and I wondered where this fascination began. In your case,

Dan, it seems it was almost genetic. Yes, I think it was to some degree but it took a while for it to

come to light in a way. It wasn't really until I started researching my relatives and my father's

own climbing that it really sunk in that I was from some quite,

you know, daring stock, as it were. And Abby, what about you? You're clearly no armchair academic.

The answer I feel is a little bit disappointing in that I'm a mountain trekker and a great fan of the

mountains and an indoor wall climber, a sort of pottering about climber, I suppose, indoors.

But I couldn't really

claim to be an expeditionary mountaineer by any stretch of the imagination. And I think that's why I've

maintained my interest in writing about mountain environments. I'm still in awe, I suppose, of those who

are able to scale the peaks. And I think it's that gap between me and those that I'm often studying

that kind of keeps me going with the project really.

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